Ace trainer Joe Gallagher is far from happy at the way his unbeaten heavyweight, former WBO cruiserweight champ and former WBC bridgerweight champ Lawrence Okolie, got next to no praise following his recent win over Keven Lerena. The fight took place on the undercard of Oleksandr Usyk’s dominant rematch win over Daniel Dubois, and while “The Sauce” didn’t get the KO he had predicted and so badly wanted, Gallagher says the critics should realise that Okolie won every round and that he won the fight despite suffering a biceps injury during the action.
Okolie, now 2-0(1) as a heavyweight, is “the boogeyman” of the division, Gallagher said when speaking with The Ring, and people need to start talking about him as a threat to Usyk.
Why is nobody saying Okolie’s name?
“Lawrence went in, never really got out of second gear with one arm and won every round,” Gallagher said when speaking about Okolie’s shutout win over the dangerous South African. “That’s some performance. But the thing is, there’s boxing people and there’s people that don’t know boxing and too many people are quick to jump at him whether he had a bad arm or not. That’s still a good performance to shut him [Lerena] down. Everyone wants to keep talking about who’s next? Joseph Parker, Moses Itauma, Derek Chisora. No-one wants to mention Lawrence Okolie, do they? Everyone says Martin Bakole is the boogeyman – no he’s not – Lawrence is.”
What’s next for ‘The Sauce’ once the biceps heals?
Londoner Okolie, highly ranked by the WBC, will now have to allow his biceps injury to heal, and as Gallagher said, a talked of fight between Okolie and WBC interim heavyweight champ Agit Kabayel will now have to “go on the back burner.” But when he comes back, fully healthy, watch out the entire heavyweight division, Gallagher says.
“People need to start putting Lawrence Okolie’s name on the end of their tongues when they talk about the heavyweights,” the trainer said.
Could Okolie be the man to surprise us all and become the first man to defeat the magnificent Usyk should this fight happen?